The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to allow cities to enforce general bans on public camping, which are often aimed at homeless people, does not appear likely to affect San Antonio. 


The court’s 63 decision overturned a Californiabased appeals court decision that found such laws amount to cruel and unusual punishment when shelter space is lacking. The court found that rules like those in Grants Pass, Oregon, which forbid public camping or even sleeping with a rolledup shirt, did not violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.”